Location: ArchivesCall No.: III FNMRepository: Archives of the Arnold Arboretum, Harvard UniversityCreator: Meyer, Frank N., 1875-1918.Title: Papers of Frank N. Meyer, 1906-1914: Guide.Date(s): 1906-1914.Quantity: 0.42 linear feetAbstract: This small collection consists of copies of letters written by Frank Meyer, two field
notebooks, and photographs and negatives. Born in Amsterdam, Meyer was a restless
man who travelled and lived around the world, especially in America and East Asia.
Much of Meyer's collecting and work in Asia focused on fruit trees and edible plants.
The materials in this collection primarily document Meyer's research and travel in
Asia between 1906 and 1914, though there are some biographical materials, as well.
Further information on Frank Meyer can be located through NARA or the USDA; specific
instructions/locations are provided later in this guide.

Researchers seeking to examine archival materials are strongly encouraged to make
an appointment. The Director, or an office of origin, may place restrictions on the
use of some or all of its records. The extent and length of the restriction will be
determined by the Director, office of origin, and the Archivist and will be enforced
equally for all researchers.

The copyright is held by The President and Fellows of Harvard College for the Arnold
Arboretum Archives of Harvard University. The copyright on some materials in the collection
may be held by the original author or the author's heirs or assigns. Researchers are
responsible for obtaining written permission from the holder(s) of copyright and the
Arnold Arboretum Archives prior to publishing any quotations or images from materials
in this collection.

Photocopies may be made at the discretion of the Arnold Arboretum Archives staff.
Permission to make photocopies does not constitute permission to reproduce or publish
materials outside the bounds of the fair use guidelines.

Frank N. Meyer was born Frans Meijer in Amsterdam in 1875. His family was not well off financially, so young Frans was sent to work at the Amsterdam Botanical Gardens at age 14, as a gardener's helper. He proved an able assistant and worked his way
up to the position of head gardener in charge of the experimental garden. His aptitude
caught the attention of the director of the experimental garden, Hugo de Vries, who became his mentor and encouraged him to take some university courses on botany.

Meyer, ever a restless man, set out for America, by way of England, in 1900. He arrived in the United States in late 1901 and applied for a position at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), where he worked for about a year. He then journeyed to Mexico to study and collect plants before returning to America in 1904. At that time, he was approached by the head of the Foreign Plant Introduction Section
of the USDA, David Fairchild, who asked if he would make a collecting trip to China for the department. Meyer quickly accepted and began preparations for the trip.

He arrived in Peking in September 1905, on an expedition that would last two and a half years and would take him to the Ming Tombs Valley, Mongolia, Manchuria, Korea, and Siberia. It was during this expedition that he had a tense meeting with E.H. Wilson in Shanghai in February 1907, concerning collecting requirements; however, they later became good friends. Meyer concentrated on collecting seeds and scions of fruit trees and other edible plants
such as the Chinese pistachio (Pistacia chinensis), wild peach trees (Prunus davidiana) and a dwarf lemon (Citrus x meyeri), as well as ornamentals such as a maple (Acer truncatum), a columnar juniper (Juniperus chinensis 'Columnaris') and the Amur lilac (Syringa amurensis.)

Meyer returned to the United States in 1908 and spent the next year visiting agricultural experiment stations and sorting the
photographs from his expedition. In the fall of 1909, he returned to the Far East by way of Europe, where he visited Kew and other botanical gardens on the continent. Meyer continued on to Crimea, where he made several significant discoveries and continued on to Azerbaidzhan, Armenia, Turkmenestan, and Chinese Turkestan, all the while collecting numerous specimens for the U.S.D.A. and the Arnold Arboretum.

The beginning of 1911 found Meyer and his party exploring and collecting along the border of Mongolia and Siberia. Political unrest forced him westwards instead of continuing on into China. He journeyed up the Volga and then on to St. Petersburg and Western Europe. He returned to the United States in April 1912 on the Mauretania, one day behind the ill-fated Titanic.

After a brief sojourn in America, Meyer prepared to return to Asia. The U.S. Office of Forest Pathology tasked him with finding out whether chestnut blight was of Asian origin. He was able
to prove that it had indeed developed in China. In December 1913, he and his party left Peking for Shannxi Province, then on to Shanxi and Henan Provinces, all the while collecting numerous specimens, scions, and seeds. He had
intended to explore Kansu, but the loss of his interpreter and the presence of bandits curtailed his activities.
The expedition returned to Peking, but soon set off again for the same area of country from which they had just returned,
journeying on to Kansu and the Tibetan borderlands. News of the outbreak of World War I upset Meyer badly. That, combined
with difficulties he had been having with his interpreter and collie laborer, led
to an incident in the remote town of Siku in which Meyer either pushed or threw the pair down a flight of stairs. The matter ended up before
the local magistrate and through the intervention of Reginald Farrar, who was also plant hunting in the area at the same time, Meyer was acquitted. In November 1914, he journeyed north to Lanzhou to collect more specimens and finally began the return trip to Peking at the beginning of 1915. After packing his specimens and collecting additional materials at Fairchild's request
the party traveled south to Hangzhou by way of Nanjing, and on to Shanghai and Japan, and finally to America.

Meyer's fourth expedition set off in mid-1916 and was tasked with collecting wild pears (Pyrus ussuriensis and P. calleryana) because they were found to be the only varieties capable of withstanding fire blight
(Bacillus amylovrus). Meyer and his interpreter and guide, Chow-hai Ting, journeyed up the Yangtze River to Ichang in search of the Callery pear (P. calleryana), and later traveled to Jingmen, where he collected 5000 pounds of pears. Meyer returned to Ichang and was trapped there by civil unrest, being forced to spend the winter of 1917. In May 1918, he and his guide managed to return to Jingmen and collect his belongings and catch a ship down the Yangtze bound for Hangou. From Hangou, he and his guide boarded a steamer for Shanghai on June 1, 1918. That evening, Frank Meyer either fell or jumped from the steamer to his death. His body was found in the Yangtze, 30 miles from Wuhu, and was buried in Shanghai.

This collection consists of a folder of photographs and negatives of Frank Meyer and scenes from his expeditions, copies of letters to E.H. Wilson from 1907, biographical information, and printouts from the National Archives of
indices of Meyer's photographs from that collection. In addition, there are two of
his field notebooks. Additional information may be found in the USDA, Bureau of Plant Industry publications – Plant Immigrants and Seeds and Plants Imported and the USDA, Bulletin of Foreign Plant Introductions. All are available in the Arnold Arboretum Library.

Folder 2:Correspondence Note: These letters were written while Frank N. Meyer and E. H. Wilson were on their respective botanical expeditions in Asia and provide some details about Meyer's first expedition, including his route and
plant sightings.

1. Meyer to E.H. Wilson, 1907 May 7. Date: 1907 May 7.

2. Meyer to E.H. Wilson, 1907 Oct 25. Date: 1907 Oct 25.

3. Meyer to E.H. Wilson, 1907 Nov 2. Date: 1907 Nov 2.

4. Meyer to E.H. Wilson, 1908 Jan 9. Date: 1908 Jan 9.

Folder 3:Information of NARA holdings of Meyer photographs and papers.

Series: Series: II. Photographs

Box 1

Folder 1:Photographs Note: includes portraits of Meyer upon his return from his 1908 and 1914 expeditions and
portraits of Meyer and J.C.C. de Leuw having just returned from their 1914 expedition
to the interior of China.

Folder 2:Index of the Frank N. Meyer Photographic Collection. Note: The photographs in this collection are in addition to those in the Frank N. Meyer Photographic Collection "Views of China," available on VIA. The Visual Information
Access (VIA) system is a union catalog of visual resources at Harvard. It includes
information about slides, photographs, objects and artifacts in the university's libraries,
museums and archives. To find and display Meyer's photographs of eastern Asia in Harvard's
VIA Catalog, go to http://via.harvard.edu and use search terms Frank Nicholas Meyer, Eastern Asia, and Arnold Arboretum Horticulture Library (Jamaica Plain).

Volume 2: Entries 951-2016 [China], 1913 May 28-1914 Sept 15. Date: 1913 May 28-1914 Sept 15. Note: The notebooks contain numbered brief 1-2 line entries with the Latin names, and often
altitude of plants, trees, and shrubs that Meyer came across during his Asian expeditions.
Both notebooks are extremely brittle and fragile and must be handled with care.